The Rogue
by Phoenix Sealer
Summary: Full Summary Inside, Please Read It Before Ignoring this Fic. M for future content, gore, and for safety.
1. The Saviour

**A/N: This has been bouncing around my strangely empty head and I've got nothing better to do with my life right now so why not write it? Besides I've noticed that there is an absolutely abysmal amount of Zombieland fics for such an awesome and easily writable movie. Anyway with my mini-rant out of the way, here is the full summary.**

_Following a botched Twinkie hunt, Little Rock is left wounded and alone in front of a Horde, only to be saved by a total stranger. Who is he? Why is he here? And what's this about a Survivor Colony in Vegas? But things are no longer of the carefree variety in Zombieland, as survivor groups hunt each-other and their guide has his own history that he needs to hold back, his own Demons that he needs to face…_

Chapter 1: The Saviour

She was running.

Scratch that, she was _sprinting_ away like hell itself was after her.

She had gotten separated from the others, the horde had attacked and Krista had told her to run. She had said they'd be right behind her. But that had been before the zombies had cut them off behind her, before the gunfire started.

She _knew_ she shouldn't have let Tallahassee convince her that household items made for the funniest kills for 14 (and ¾) year-olds. Now all she had was a butter knife, after killing several zombies with a nail-gun she'd found in the hardware section of the store they'd been in, she'd run out of nails.

One of the infected forced her to take a turn. She chose right. It was the wrong choice.

She slammed into the filing cabinet in the room she had just ran into, her speed and force flipping her over it and sending her through the weak dry-wall above it.

She looked up, fighting through the pain all over her body, and found herself staring at rows of warehouse shelving, and a shitload of zombies.

'_I hope you and your motherfucking Twinkies burn in hell Tallahassee'_

And then they noticed her, laying on the floor, bleeding from multiple cuts on her body, her hair sticky with the stuff. They could see the large gash on her head, her unfocused eyes and weak limbs. Instinct told them it was easy prey, but they didn't need instinct, they ran at her anyway, yelling and screaming in triumph, aching for a feed.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain of their teeth sinking into her flesh, waiting for the sound of her own skin and organs being ripped apart.

She was greeted by the sound of gunfire.

She opened her eyes, and she saw a boy, maybe slightly older than her, holding back the zombies with a stream of bullets. it was hazy, but it definitely wasn't a hallucination. She saw the zombies drop, one by one, and then he looked around, as if scanning for more before leaning down to her. "You're not looking too good. Sorry if you think I'm breaking any boundaries, but survival first, personal space second."

Then he holstered his gun on his back, she couldn't tell what it was, longer than an Uzi but far too short to be any kind of rifle. He then took out what seemed to be a pair of pistols from a gun jacket, cocked them, then put his left arm under her knees and his right arm behind her back, and lifted her up. It took a few seconds for her to realise that he was carrying her bridal style, and she could feel the heat on her face from the amount of blood rushing through her cheeks, before her head started searing in pain and she gasped. "Shit, you're looking worse than I thought. Hang on, I'm gonna have to get you back to my place fast." And with that, he took off running.

She couldn't remember any of the directions, her head hurt too much for her brain to process anything. But she felt his arm moving underneath her and he used the end of one of his pistols to enter a code into a keypad beside a big, metal door, and as it slid open he entered the dark room, and placed her on a mattress at the far end of the room from the door, just as the door slid shut again.

"Right, I can't do much, I've only got a watered down course on first aid to go on and some mother-knows-best remedies, but I need to stop the blood pouring out of your head, and I can only do that if I can tell where the cut is on your head, which I can't because you're covered in blood. I'm going to wash your head, O.K?" She managed a faint nod and he immediately started pouring some water into a bucket. When it filled, he brought it over to her.

"This is gonna sting, so be warned" He gently tipped the bucket onto her hair, and she hissed in pain, but bore with it. He gently began running his spare hand through her hair, clearing away most of the blood and allowing him to see where the cut was.

"On the bright side, it isn't very deep, probably just nicked a vein. On the not so bright side, it's got few splinters in it, so I'll have to pick them out before I can do anything else."

It took him a good few hours to pick out all the splinters with the tweezers he'd fetched to help her, and from there he used a bandage to secure an ice-pack over the cut, stopping any swelling and halting the flow of blood from the wound. He went and filled several bottles of water from the nearby sink and placed them by the mattress where she lay.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked, and she opened her mouth to speak, but found her mouth and throat dry. "Course, sorry, I'm always forgetting why I do things like this." He uncapped a bottle and held it to her lips, and she drank deeply. The cool water soothed her burning throat and allowed her to talk. "Yes, thanks. Look, this is gonna seam like a stupid question, but why did you save me?" "I hate seeing girls die. I know it seems sexist, like you can't handle yourself or something, but I always have hated seeing girls get hurt. That and the fact that we need all the survivors we can get."

"Fair enough. Uh, I came here with friends. Do you know where they are?"

"Their looking around the store for you, they're on the other side of the compound to us right now, so I'll wait for them to come over here before I approach them. No offense, but your not in the best condition to look after yourself after running through a wall." She nodded, and then asked, "Um, your face is hidden by a shadow, could you move forward, so I can see your face please?"

He did as she asked, and she got her first good look at him. He was Caucasian, with jet black hair. His features were rather unremarkable apart from his red eyes. When he noticed her staring at his eyes, he explained. "Genetic Mutation; it does nothing to harm me, but it makes my eyes red. Also lets me see better in the dark for some reason."

She nodded at his explanation and sat up suddenly. "Whoa there, you took a nasty shot to the head, I wouldn't try anything over-taxing or fast movements yet, before we check you for a concussion" She turned to him and said "You're British" He sighed, evidently he had had to explain his accent many times before. He answered "English, actually. There are four separate countries in what's left of Great Britain. Though considering my father was Scottish and my mother Irish I'm almost British yes."

"But… Does that mean Britain's gone too?"

"Yeah, along with most of Europe and Asia. Russia closed its borders but some probably got through."

"So, it really is the apocalypse?"

"No, if it were the apocalypse then big fireballs would have come from the sea and random shit like that. I think it's just a pandemic that cost the world over 90% of its population. The scientists weren't fast enough and the virus killed them all before they could develop a cure. Simple as that." she nodded again and looked around.

She found herself in a rather large room, about the size of your average lounge area. But what surprised her was that one wall was stocked full of ammo, shelves of it. Another wall was covered in guns, and the third was paced full of CCTV monitors, obviously for the store outside the heavy steel door on the opposite side of the room.

The side with the door on was bare, apart from a desk and several notes pinned to the wall. The desk was large, on it was a laptop, a notepad, a microwave and a mini-fridge, along with several paper plates and a bin underneath it. "What, no washing machine?" she asked.

"It's in the other room." He pointed to a previously unnoticed door at the edge of the gun-wall. "Along with my cupboard of clothes and the shower" Her eyes widened and she stared at him, silently pleading with her eyes.

"Yes, you can shower. Take your time, this place's boiler is on 24/7 so infinite hot water. There are spare clothes for women in the wardrobe marked with the giant F on the front, so you can put your current stuff in the wash." She squealed in delight and got up, heading over to the door before turning back to him.

"Well, since you saved me, I owe you a name at least. I'm Little Rock"

"Your parents must have really loved you. Little Rock is an awesome name."

"Piss off. In my group we go by place names."

"Well, my survivor cell didn't use places, I went by…" His yes glazed over for a moment, before he looked into his reflection in what was left of the bucket water, and staring into his own eyes.

"Phoenix"

**A/N: Well? You like it? All reviews welcome. Next chapter, Phoenix meets the other three musketeers (Crap pun, sorry) and Little Rock finds out a little more about him.**


	2. The Reunion

Chapter 2: The Reunion

When Little Rock finally got out of the shower (it had been _way _to long since her last shower) she looked at the washing machine, which still had her clothes spinning around inside it. She sighed and looked for the wardrobe Phoenix had mentioned and saw it on the opposite side of the room; she made to walk towards it, but stopped and looked in the mirror instead.

She looked at the cut that Phoenix had used his minimal medical knowledge to heal and winced slightly. It was going to scar, no doubt about it, but from experience, she could tell that it was going to be very small, barely even noticeable, and that was fine with her.

She turned and walked over to the wardrobe, picking out underwear, a pair of dark blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a dark blue jacket, and put them on before exiting the room.

Phoenix was nowhere to be seen, but she noticed a note on the laptop on the desk and picked it up.

_Gone to bring your friends back for you._

_See you in a while,_

_Phoenix_

Little Rock scanned the monitors on the screen-wall and eventually found Phoenix, walking along a maintenance hallway, pistol in hand, which she recognised as a Desert Eagle. She looked around the other monitors and found Tallahassee, Columbus and Wichita, running from a horde.

It was obvious they were out of ammo as Tallahassee never ran from a horde without good reason, this time it was no ammo and no close range weapons to use.

Little Rock decided there was nothing she could do from inside Phoenix's safe room so she looked in the mini-fridge for something to eat. She found a packet of popcorn and sat down to enjoy the show the others were putting on.

Phoenix exited the hallway through a pair of double doors, and was greeted by the sight of three people running towards him like hell itself was after them, of course, considering the horde of zombies behind them, it was quite a close resemblance.

"Fuck me, do _any_ of this group know how to avoid a horde?"

He ran to the aisle closest to him and began pouring the long-turned milk in that section on the floor, before gabbing a mop out of an abandoned bucket and kicking off it's head.

"Oi! Necropheliacs!" The yelling attracted the attention of the horde. "Come get me! I'm not running!" Said horde noticed this and charged at the newcomer. "Zombies, gotta love the lack of brain cells" he placed the mop-turned-pole over the gap between the two aisle-shelves and when the small horde got close enough, kicked it towards them.

What ensued would later be described by the merry band of intrepid adventurers, as "Fucking Hilarious", as the zombies tripped and fell over the pole, and found they were unable to get up because of the slippery curd they found themselves in. One continued to slide, reaching Phoenix, and he stamped on the male zombies crotch, causing it to sit up, screaming in pain, before he shot it in the head.

"That has to get me Zombie Kill Of The Week. Yo! Not infected people! Come with me if you wanna see Little Rock again!" and with that, he took off sprinting to the maintenance door he had come through earlier.

"Who the hell!" The voice of Tallahassee resounded, before Columbus replied "Who cares? He saved our hides and knows where Little Rock is!" He and Wichita took off running after the teen, with Tallahassee not far behind.

Phoenix stopped and turned to make sure they were following, before continuing to run, but stopped when he heard Tallahassee say something. "if he's hurt her I swear I'll-" And then Phoenix burst out laughing. "Hurt her? She ran herself through a fucking wall!" and he began running again, still laughing, not noticing the worried expressions on the faces of his three followers.

When they arrived, panting at the large metal door, Phoenix stood waiting for them. "Not the greatest of runners I've ever seen." He said, before punching in the code on the door and entering.

Little Rock had found Phoenix's Zombie Kill of The Week extremely funny, and had proceeded to replay it over and over, laughing harder each time. When Phoenix walked in the door, he saw her on the floor in a fit of laughing hysteria, the recently opened popcorn thrown about in her laughter. He merely smiled. "Hello to you too, chuckles" To which she proceeded to laugh harder, making him grin. "She's fine!" he yelled out the door, before Wichita ran in. "Sis, are you- what the hell is so funny?" she was answered with "-Giggle- Phoenix, pole, milk –laugh- stamped on balls, -chuckle- BLAM!" and then the continuation of her laughter, before coughing and spluttering on the lack of air, and then she stopped laughing. "Come on, get up you've got visitors." Phoenix helped her up, which was proving hard to do with the constant giggling. "You're a weird one, you know that?" it was said humorously, as Phoenix had a grin on his face the entire time, and Little Rock responded in kind. "not as weird as the one who thought of a kill like that."

At this point, Columbus and Tallahassee had walked in, and Tallahassee proceeded to check if she was O.K "You ok 'Rock? He said you ran through a wall." She frowned at the embarrassing memory. "Yeah, but Phoenix saved me. Killed all the zombies in the room and took me back here to fix the cut."

"She'll be fine." Phoenix said "Just a minor wound to the head and slight symptoms of excessive blood loss. Give her a day or two and she'll be able to run herself through another wall." This earned him a light punch on the arm from Little Rock. "I wouldn't be here to joke about it if you hadn't stepped in." She smiled "Thanks."

Phoenix looked surprised, but pulled himself together before anyone but Little Rock noticed it. "Your, uh, welcome I guess." But then he turned serious. "Sadly, we don't have a day or two to spare, with all the commotion you guys have caused; it's only a matter of time until a large horde shows up. We need to get out of here. I've got transportation in the old staff car park in the back of the store, but we'll need two cars to carry us and the ammo and guns. The Hummer will carry the gear but will only have room for three people…"

Tallahassee, Columbus and Wichita immediately put their hands up. "Fine, you three get the Hummer." Little Rock cursed. "So me and Little Rock get the Enzo" The other three were slack-jawed as Little Rock stuck her tongue out at them. "We need to move fast. Grab whatever weapon you want and pack the rest."

**A/N: R & R! Next chapter, close calls are abundant and the horde came faster than Phoenix anticipated.**


	3. The Escape

Chapter 3: The Escape

A loud crash from the monitors drew the attention of Phoenix.

He looked at the monitor it came from and swore loudly. "What is it?" Inquired Columbus, before his jaw-dropped and he too let loose a range of expletives that made his girlfriend blush.

"The Horde is already here." answered Phoenix to the other questioning looks. "We need to finish up here fast." He grabbed a loaded FN P90 off of Little Rock, who had been about to pack it.

"Thank-you. I'll distract them. When you're leaving, press the big red button next to the door. It'll set off the fire alarm, and I'll meet you in the garage. And…" he paused for effect.

"I'm not stupid enough to trust anyone from this shit-hole of a planet. Nick my stuff and leave me here, and I'll hunt you down and kill you myself. I will also take a great amount of pleasure in it." With that, he walked out the door, leaving a rather spooked crowd behind him.

"He seems a little… mistrusting." Said Columbus. "Fuckin' insane is more like it!" added Tallahassee, who had decided to glare out the door after him. "You don't survive long in Z-Land without being a bit insane" Little Rock defended Phoenix, though she wasn't sure why.

"If I were a giant Horde of Cannibalistic Zombies, where would I be?" Phoenix asked out loud, before taking a left towards the butchers. "Meat Section, duh." As he entered the area filled with old, rotting meat, the smell of puss and blood assaulted his nose, as he saw the Horde tearing into the meat that was left. They were completely ignoring him. That wouldn't do.

So he shot one in the head.

Brain matter exploded from the cranium of the already dead zombie. It sprayed over those that had been nearest to it, and attracted the attention of the Horde. "Right here's how were gonna do this. I'm gonna run. You're gonna chase me. I'm also gonna shoot a shit load of you from time to time. Any questions?"

There was a growl from the back of the Horde.

"Good. Let's begin then shall we?" He grinned, and then shot another zombie before sprinting out of the room.

The roars of anger and hunger told him that they were following.

Left, right, the next few minutes were a blur to Phoenix. He was running. It had always been like that when he was running.

_Run! ~~~~~~~ Run!_

_The gang had been chasing them; they'd had to run after the leader had pulled a gun. They were running like hell. They couldn't stop. But they couldn't run forever, they'd run out of steam eventually._

_He had an idea. It was bat-shit crazy, but it was the only one he had._

_He dropped back from the guy he was running with. An old friend he'd met at school, and one of the few friends he actually had. 'You run ahead, get some help. I'll keep them off your back.' Most people would have argued, but everyone knew he was different. He had survived so much that most kids thought he was unbreakable._

'_Try not to die' was the reply, before the friend ran ahead, and he stopped._

'_My death isn't something to concern yourself over' he muttered, before turning around._

'_Oi! Dickhead? You wanna hear about what he did to that fit sister of yours?' _

_That set the leader off, he fired at the guy who was friends with the one he'd caught snogging his sister._

_Fortunately for the one who would be called Phoenix, he was a crappy shot._

_He unloaded all the bullets in his 32. Calibre at him and not a single one hit. What came next would reinforce the belief of his being unbreakable._

_As soon as he caught up, the leader swung for him. He ducked and then delivered a brutal knee to the kid's ribs, rocking his torso and sending him sprawling. The others weren't so lucky._

_Broken arms, legs, ribs, wrists, ankles, hands noses, every one of them had some bone of theirs shattered. They never fully recovered._

_When it was over, the leader got back up and pulled out a knife. By now, a croud had gathered and some were calling the police._

_Though he had his back to him, Phoenix had heard his getting up. And he turned._

_The leader saw something in his eyes. He realised that he wasn't fighting the kid that had been running from him before. He was someone else._

_He tried to knife him._

_Phoenix grabbed his arm and twisted, the kid let go of the knife, and before it hit the ground, Phoenix had spun around and caught it, and he spun again._

_And stabbed the 'leader' right in the heart._

_As he fell to the ground, Phoenix looked at him, and he saw the little old ladies he'd mugged, the people he'd stabbed. The father he'd pushed down the stairs and killed. The mother and sister he'd terrorised for years._

_And he felt absolutely nothing._

As he ran, Phoenix could remember reading about how most people froze after killing for the first time, how some went insane. What scared him was that on that moment he'd felt absolutely and totally nothing.

He spun and fired at the approaching Horde.

He'd killed so many Zombies he'd lost count.

He'd killed exactly 379 Humans

And he'd felt nothing for any of them.

They'd packed up everything and Tal was taking it to the car, covered by Wichita.

Columbus and Little Rock were still watching the cameras.

"This is insane." Spoke Columbus. "There is no way he actually marched into a horde, shot two of them, spoke to them, then ran off and is now holding them off with _ease _on his own." "But he is. You can see it plain as day on those monitors." Responded Little Rock, who was also in awe at what she was seeing "I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's better than Tallahassee"

"Who's better at what than me?" Tal walked in, and Columbus absentmindedly said. "Phoenix, Zombie Killing." Little Rock grimaced. She knew what was coming. "No way, I fought a theme park full of them and did it looking totally awesome!" "Yes, you did. But on a day-to-day basis? He's definitely better."

Tal frowned. Then said "The only thing I can't do is repel off of buildings, and I bet he can't do that. Now let's get to the vehicles. Rock, sound the alarm."

The sudden wailing of the fire alarm hurt the zombie's sensitive ears, and did little but piss them off even more. It hurt Phoenix's even more sensitive ears too, but he didn't let it show.

"Well, you've all been lovely guests at my humble abode, but I think it's time I left. You can stay as long as you like, buried underneath the rubble."

He pulled out a detonator, flipped the switch and pressed the button.

The fire alarm stopped, and the sound of a woman's voice filled the store.

_T-minus 2 minutes until detonation._

Phoenix turned and sprinted up the stairwell he'd been climbing for the last five minutes.

"Time for my big exit"

_T-minus 1 minute and 50 seconds until detonation._

"I've always wanted to blow something this big up"

_T-minus 1 minute and 30 seconds until detonation._

"That kid is Bat-Shit Crazy! What is he trying to prove by blowing this place to hell!" Yelled an understandably distraught Tallahassee.

"There's a whole Horde of Zombies here! If he blows this place, it'll be easier on us in the long run!" Replied Columbus

"Shouldn't we be worrying about the _short_ run to the cars out of the place that's about to blow up!" Screamed Little Rock

They all shut up and ran as fast as they could.

Phoenix ran through the door and found himself on the roof. He looked around quickly and found what he was looking for on the other side of the roof, right through a group of zombies that had just burst out of another door halfway across the roof. He raised his P90 and fired.

It clicked empty.

And the other zombies were still charging up the stairs.

"Ah hell." He threw the empty gun away and sprinted at the group ahead, and was on them before they had even noticed him. He ducked under a stray arm and span, clocking the zombie in the temple and the weakened bones caved in, propelling into the swelled and enflamed brain beneath. It was dead before it hit the floor.

He turned and punched another zombie in the nose, the head again caved in and again the brain was pierced by bone. He jumped away from the attempt bite from another zombie and grabbed another from behind, snapping it's neck with little effort and then turning and striking another in the throat, it started gasping, and choked to death in it's own blood soon after.

The one that had tried to bite him before tried again, only to be swatted away like an annoying fly, Phoenix pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired into the brains of the three remaining zombies, before turning and holstering his gun in one smooth motion, running at the previous zombie and kicking it.

Right off the rooftop.

_T-minus 45 seconds before detonation._

"We can't wait anymore! We need to go now!"

"He saved my life! I'm not leaving without him!"

Tal and Rock had been having this discussion since the one minute mark, and while Tal and the others were in the Hummer, Rock was behind the wheel of the Enzo.

"Goddammit Kid! If I have to-"

He was silenced by the scream of a falling zombie, which hit the ground outside the doors of the garage seconds after. The impact caused bits of zombie to go flying everywhere, and a piece of brain landed on Tal's face.

The zombie was soon followed by a maniacally laughing (and rappelling of a building) Phoenix, who used the corpse as a cushion for his landing.

"Man that was fun! Whooooooooooosh SPLAT!" He started laughing again.

_T-minus 15 seconds before detonation._

"Oh yeah, forgot about that." He sprinted over to the Enzo and jumped in beside Little Rock. "Drive!"

Neither party needed telling twice, both the Hummer and the Enzo sped off down the long stretch of road before them, being out of the blast range in seconds. Phoenix turned around in his seat.

"What are you looking for?" yelled Little Rock.

"The fireworks!"

"There late aren't they?"

"Ya, but the C4 was _slightly _expired."

"By slightly you mean it's really old and really explosive?"

"Oooooh Yeah"

The blast was sudden, parts of the building exploded and then it all went up. The shockwave was so great that it caught up to them quickly, and Little Rock was forced to stop the car.

Phoenix opened the glove compartment and pulled out a camera, and started taking pictures.

"Damn that felt good! Real stress reliever! You should try it sometime."

"I don't do blowing up stores for fun."

"I can already tell taking you guys to the Survivor Colony is gonna be boring as hell"

Little Rock was surprised.

"Survivor Colony? What are you talking about?"

"What didn't pass basic English? A. Colony. Of. Survivors. A small army actually."

"You're not a people person are you?"

"What was your first clue, the camera in the shower or the kicking zombies off buildings?"

She went red with rage.

"There was a camera in the shower!"

He grinned

"Easily irritated and relatively gullible. Maybe travelling with you lot won't be so boring after all."


	4. The Road Stop

**The Road Stop**

Little Rock was driving, still pissed at the 'Camera in the Shower' comment.

"Look, there wasn't actually a camera in the shower, ok?"

"Then why have you got those tapes with you?"

She was talking about the one's she'd packed into his duffel bag prior to the countdown.

"My stylish Zombie Kills. There's a yearly competition at the colony as to who scored the coolest kills. Whoever gets the most Zombie Kill Of The Week awards wins. That's why they're all dated."

She nodded, her fear about the new companion being a perv assuaged.

"Don't think I'm not a perv, though. All men are, on some level."

"As if. Columbus isn't a perv, though Tal might be..."

"Columbo isn't a perv? Have you seen the number of times he oggled your sister?"

"And how would you know he was staring at her?"

"Because I was doing it too." He finished with a grin.

She glared at him.

"What?"

"Don't look at my sister like that! She's dating-"

"Doing."

"Doing Columbus."

He grinned.

Then she realised what she'd just said.

"You bastard!"

"You said it, not me!"

"Whatever! Don't stare at her!"

"Would you rather I stared at you?"

It was said so innocently she almost didn't see that he was laughing his arse off in his head.

"Eww, as if! You're ugly."

"You're fat. That's why I was staring at your sister."

"Arrogant prick!"

"Chub Chubbs."

"ARGHH!"

She slammed on the breaks and leapt at him, intent upon strangling him.

"Why, rock, if you wanted to be on top..."

"DIE BASTARD DIE!"

The hummer pulled to a stop beside them, Wichita and Columbus sticking their heads out.

"Little Rock, what're you-" Wichita started, but before Little Rock could answer, Phoenix jumped in.  
"She's trying to rape me! She asked how big my dick was and when I answered she jumped on me! Stop your little sister from stealing my innocence! I'm begging you!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP MAN-WHORE!"

"SEE? SHE SAID SHE'D TAKE IT IN THE ARSE TOO! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!"

"DDDDDDIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

A while later, after they'd pulled Little Rock off of Phoenix. (He'd made several more lewd comments, angering her further) They were in a small WalMart, looking for twinkies.

It was also fairly full of zombies.

Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock were hiding behind the counter, listening to the other two wage war upon the undead.

There was the sound of a chainsaw and a zombie head flew over them.

"Top that ya British prick!"

"British is offensive, you inbred red-neck! PENALTY KICK!"

Another head flew over them.

"This is complete insanity!" Yelled Wichita.

Little Rock was still seething from Phoenix's earlier comments.

"Hey look! This one's almost as flat chested as Little Rock!"

She screamed with rage, and stood up, only to be hit in the face with a large pair of clothed breasts without a body.

"Try those ones rocky!"

Tallahassee's howls of laughter were also heard.

"High five English!"

"Better yet, Chainsaw High Five!"

The sound of the chainsaws screaming against each other almost drowned out Columbus' muttering and Wichita's attempts to sooth him.

"The rules, so many broken. They've broken so _many_..."

They never did find the damn Twinkies.

Tal and Phoenix sat alone in the Enzo.

"So where are we goin' kid?"

"New York. The colony is there."

The man nodded. He took it at face value.

"Why're you so intent on winding up Little Rock so much."

"I like her."

The man blinked.

"Then why-"

"Me liking someone is a bad thing, Tal. I like you too, just not as much. The other two, well I don't really know them yet."

"Why is you likin'-"

"Don't ask Tal. But it went very badly. End of."

The large man nodded, and they continued driving off into the night.

A/N: Well, sorry for the (Very) late update. This is basically just for humour and character building, next will be a decent story-line chapter. Should be out by the weekend. Ja Ne.


	5. The House That's No Longer A Home

**Your House Isn't A Home Anymore**

The drive home was quieter than expected.

He didn't like it.

Having spent most of the past three years either running or fighting, Phoenix was fairly sure there wasn't much else left in him. But his instincts, they never left, and they'd saved him far too many times for him to completely ignore them.

But they were nearly home, and he'd stayed awake since the explosion at the shopping centre, nearly 36 hours ago. He was too tired to really give it much thought.

What he was thinking about, was the return to NY.

He wasn't welcome, that much he already knew. But he could stay long enough to get this lot situated and then he could go, back into the sullen relief of loneliness, and being allowed, again, to just not care.

Little Rock could see him brooding in the passenger seat. For anyone not looking closely enough, he would appear asleep, though the fact that every time there was even a slight difference in the speed of the Hummer, his hand was on his weapon. No exception, ever.

She was driving, Columbus and Wichita having nicked the Enzo before anyone could get a word in edgewise. Typical.

Tal was asleep in the back, occasionally muttering something about either twinkies or buck.

"You're usually trying to annoy me. Why stop now?"

Cold, good. Served him right.

"Too tired to work up the energy to see your sweet face contorted in rage."

She raised an eyebrow at the sweet comment.

"Oh really?"

"Really."

He was being curt. Saving his energy, apparently.

"Where are we going?"

"Chevalier Boarding School. Sign should show up soon."

"You look depressed."

"I spent the last nine months in glorious self-imposed isolation, then you lot came and trounced around like elephants at a flee market, filled my safe-house with undead, and now I have to drag your sorry arses to New York, the only safe place for humans but the place that hates me more than anything, after going 36 hours without sleep. Sorry if i'm not as fucking chipper as you'd want your usual shining white knight to be, princess."

That one stung. All his previous comments had been somewhat, jovial, but that one had the venom of a snake.

She was quiet for a minute, and then spoke again.

"Sorry about the centre, we didn't know-"

"But you didn't even try not to get caught, did you? Is that your usual style? Charge in like bullheaded elephants in an attempt to get yourself killed? It's amazing you've survived this long.

I've been in far more fights than I can count, but to get in that position of your own volition? That store could've been a resource post for survivors, it could've been a focal point for gatherings, but then you lot charge in, don't give a shit about who could be after you, who also would've needed supplies.

Now it's ash, because no-one in your group seems capable of thinking, sides that OCD Rules maniac who none of you EVER listen to. It's gone, it's rubble, because of you."

She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

"We didn't push the button."

"No, but what if I had left the place be? How many survivors scavenging for supplies would've survived a fight with a horde that size? None. You lot weren't going to either, until I stepped in. Again. Like I always do. And, again, it's bitten me in the arse. Do you have any idea how valuable that place was?

She looked at him.

"I'm so sorry, we're just so used to it just being us-"

"Stop, Rock. Just stop, i'm tired and pissed and I've lost far too much data. Leave me in peace."

He threw his trench coat over his face and feigned sleep again.

She stared at him for a minute, frowning.

Had they really been that inconsiderate of other survivors all this time?

She saw the sign and took the exit for the Chevalier school.

Was this the main reason he seemed to dislike her? Her life had come at the cost of his apparently hard gotten supplies, research and house?

It seemed that he did have a viable reason to be more than a tad pissed off.

Though she felt somewhat hurt that he seemed to value supplies and data over her life...

Pulling up to the front gate of the school after the long slog up the driveway, Phoenix was out with his gear and through the doors before she even noticed the door had opened.

She sighed and muttered something about boys before punching Tal awake and setting off too.

Upon entry, Phoenix was gone. His gear was on an elevator that looked like it had been made out of the lifters on the back of trucks.

They stashed their gear on it and rode it up to the top floor.

0o0o0o0o0o

He crashed through into the armoury, barely able to stand.

He could feel it boiling in his veins again, the hunger and power-

No! don't focus on it. don't focus on it.

Too long without the serum. It was fine when alone, but whenever people were around...

He smashed open a cupboard- not enough time for etiquette- grabbed a syringe and slammed it into his arm, before pumping the amber-yellow liquid within it into his system.

His blood immediately cooled, and he was able to think coherently again.

He slipped into a nearby chair, the home-made security office he was in was covered in monitors, and the desk with flashing LED's.

He paid them no attention, and just allowed himself to fall victim to the constant assault of sleep.

"Really shouldn't... have been... that much... of an... ass..."

He was in the realm of dreams, oblivious to the danger to come, to the monitors that showed nothing but empty sounds and to the LED's that screamed silently of an emergency.

0o0o0o0o0

It had been an hour since Phoenix had disappeared, whereas Little Rock and the others had made themselves at home in the corridor at the top of the elevator.

It was sealed, Phoenix having seemingly blow torched the door shut and nailed a large sheet of metal over it. The corridor itself had twelve rooms, and Phoenix had set them up into something along the lines of bedrooms. Each had clearly been classrooms once, but he had added shelves, turned the old book cupboards into wardrobes and put in beds.

The added paranoia of a survivor was also clear though. Three separate safes, five locks on each door and a loaded pistol (safety on) under each pillow.

The makeshift lift had left them in one of the rooms, which had been full of rations and, to Tallahassee's near insane delight, three boxes of twinkies.

Three. Boxes.

He had subsequently locked himself in a room and had been heard cackling madly between mouthfuls ever since.

Columbus and Wichita had changed and gone to bed, as it had been late by the time they'd gotten to the school and they had both been tired and bleary-eyed since taking turns driving in the Enzo. Rock had a sneaking suspicion that they were actually 'breaking it in', but left them to it. They weren't making enough noise for it to escape the room.

She's changed into a nightie and was now knocking on Tal's door.

The face-level grate in the door opened a sliver and she could barely see his iris.

"If you're here for the twinkies, you're not getting anywhere near them."

She sighed.

"I'm going to bed. Stop cackling already."

"Fine. Now leave me with my twinkies."

It was slammed shut again, but the cackling didn't resume.

She sighed and entered her room, head filled with thoughts regarding Phoenix's attitude and completely oblivious to the cold, predatory eyes watching her.

0o0o0o0o0o

Four hours after, Phoenix awoke.

He'd been thinking in his sleep.

LED's...

Empty cells...

Oh _shit_.

He was on his feet in an instant, checking off the flashing LED's

"Labs two, three and four are compromised. Gates four and six breached. All sentinels deceased... Fuck!"

He slammed his fist on a button to his left, and immediately a drawer extended, containing some form of wrist-mounted device.

He put it on, and spoke into it.

Anna, armoury.

A computerised woman's voice spoke back in Japanese.

"**To your left, Finikkusu-Sama"**

The wall opened to a row of guns.

He grinned.

0o0o0o0o0o

Little Rock awoke, her throat dry with the need for a drink.

She moved from her warm, comfy bed to the door, managing to recall there was a water fountain out in the corridor.

She unlocked the door and made for the fountain, but stopped when she heard a low growl.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily and muttered.

"Tal, you and your twinkies..."

She started toward the fountain again, but a loud, high-pitched shriek was emitted from further down the corridor.

Then a body slammed into her.

She was sent sprawling, the thing on top of her hanging on to her clothes like a spider.

She was under it, arms pinned to her sides.

The moonlight shone in from the window, illuminating its face. Dead, blind eyes stared at her, and a thick, purple liquid dribbled out of its mouth and over her nightgown, staining it's once pristine white.

It was wiry, strong, fast. It's nails had seemingly expanded all over its fingertips, turning its once human hands into claws.

She could've sworn it was grinning as it raised its claw to slash open her throat.

She heard Tallahassee's yelling as he desperately tried to unlock his door, Wichita's screams as Columbus tried to move her in a desperate attempt to get at the locks...

she was having that little out-of-body experience again. The one she'd been having before-

Another body crashed into the thing atop her, and then they were a sprawling mash of limbs that were desperately trying to inflict some damage. Fist and Claw clashed and then suddenly the other body was behind the thing, the body's arms wrapped around it's throat in a sleeper hold as the abomination attempted to gain a purchase on the body's face with its claws.

Then it was over, the thing lost conciousness and then the body snapped its neck like a twig.

It stepped into the moonlight, and Phoenix's slightly cut and bloodied face stared back at her.

"We really have to stop meeting like this."

She stared at him.

He wiped the blood off his face and spoke into something on his wrist in what sounded like Japanese, ignoring the fresh blood that flowed down his face, the ever present sunglasses still hiding his eyes.

He'd changed out of his clothing. New jeans that were good for running in, a T-shirt, thin kevlar vest, thin, cloth black trench coat that extended to his ankles...

Various gun belts also adorned his thighs and ribs and a P90 was slung over his back, for good measure.

A panel opened in the wall after he was done talking with the wrist-thing. (She was just going to call it Anna, seeing as that was the only English word/name she could actually understand) He reached into it, pulling out what looked like earphone hands-free sets, just as Tal and Columbus managed to get the door open.

"How the hell did-"

"Why was that thing-"

"Shut it, now."

His cold tone immediately had them reeling.

"Take these. Columbus, give one to your girlfriend. Do any of you know how to fly a heli?"

"A fucking heli!"

"Yes! Do you know how?"

Columbus answered tentatively.

"I-I learned in the air cadets how to fly most choppers, never liked the planes, the speed scared me."

"Then get to ground level and head for the gym. It should be in the outer basketball court. Please tell me you brought up the gu-"

Something crashed into the sealed metal door at the end of the corridor.

Phoenix grimaced.

"Rock, where's my sword?"

"M-my room..."

"Get it for me. Quickly."

She ran for her room.

Another crash resounded against the doors, and the metal visibly buckled.

The others were rapidly dressing and loading their weapons, but they weren't going to be fast enough.

The sword came flying out of Rock's room as she slammed the door shut to change out of her tainted purple nightgown. (He'd snuck a peek at her exposed legs and given them a 8 / 10. All was fair in love and war)

He caught and strapped it to his waist, and muttered a "Hello again old friend. Long time since I've needed you, hey?"

Then the door exploded outwards, and shrapnel flew across the corridor.

Phoenix expertly dodged what he could, and what he couldn't was cut out of the air with the sword, without even fully unsheathing it.

A different type of Zombie stood in the doorway, lumbering along using one massive, insanely muscular arm to lumber along, it's other pathetically small, like a T-Rex with its tiny arm.

Rock threw open the door and got a good look at the massive thing, as it smashed a wider hole for it to enter the corridor.

Even knowing that the joke had been cracked before, Phoenix couldn't resist.

"Huh, you must be the guy that masturbates too much."

Rock's hand stifled her laughter.

It finally took notice of him, screamed, and charged.

He immediately started backtracking, sliding two beretta's out of the holsters on his hips. He fired at it, and while some bullets made it through, it used it's massive arm to act as a meat shield as it finally crashed into him,

and kept charging.

They blasted through the window, spiralling downwards out of the new hole in the fourth floor and into the inky blackness of the night.

0o0o0o0o0o

She ran to the hole the wise-arse boy who'd saved her life (again) had just been thrown out of.

"PHOENIX!"

She heard a crash as bodies impacted whatever was below her, but saw and heard nothing else.

She shoved the little hands-free into her ear.

"Phoenix? You there? God dammit answer me or I swear-"

"Keep your panties on. I know you want to take them off for me but this really isn't the time."

She wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved or pissed.

Both, definitely both.

"Asshole! Don't try and dirty-talk me into forgiving you-"

"Forgiving me? I just got chucked out of a building and, hang on..."

She heard gunfire.

"Err, I'll have to call you back, just, yeah, get to the chopper."

He cut off.

"Shitty movie quote..."

Tal's hand landed on her shoulder.

"We have to go Little Rock."

She sighed, nodded, and turned to grab the gun he was offering.

There was a crash beneath them and some whooping.

"What the hell is that kid doing?"

"How should I know? He cut his thingy off mid-conversa-"

Another crash made the whole floor shake, and the lift seemed to break off from below, falling through the floor.

"Ah, crap."

"Phoenix said we had to 'get to the chopper.'"

"I need to remind that kid that's he's not Arnie."

"Certainly cuter though, eh Little Rock?"

Rock blanched at Wichita's comment.

"You have a boyfriend!"

"I meant for you sis, you are at that age-"

"LALALALALALA I'm not listening!"

She gabbed a few more guns and holsters and headed toward the now punched in door.

Columbus smiled after her calmly.

"Someone's got a crush."

"Oh yeah, worse than Scotty Lynch."

"Screw Lynch, you're mine now."

"I do so love a man in control."

Tal was eagerly packing the Twinkies he hadn't sacrificed to his Dark Twinkie God.

Little Rock stared at her, as Phoenix had called it, Survivor Cell.

"We're screwed. Oh god, We're so screwed."

0o0o0o0o0o

He dodged another strike from the massive armed thing.

"Yep, i'm labelling you the Masturbater. That's you're official zombie archetype."

It roared and swung at him again, but he rolled underneath it and jumped past on its weak-armed side, managing to gain some distance from it.

They'd landed on the roof of the second floor, and he'd taken no damage due to the fact that he'd kicked off the Masturbater at the last second and rolled across the roof, negating the gravitational force that would've at least broken something.

The armed zombie had crashed into the roof full-force however, and had evidently damaged its back severely.

"Typical run'n'gun wont work, and the sword is only ever drawn when, well, it's not an option. Hmm, that'll do."

It charged him again, but instead of evading he sprinted at it, evaded it's arm...

then he flipped around it, used his body to get into a position where he wrapped his legs around its head, and threw it down, its arm left in a position too awkward to move. he was left kneeling above it, gun poised at the base of its neck.

"It took me 23 seconds to beat you after I got serious. Not even a challenge."

He fired, and its brain decorated the rooftop in a lovely shade of red polka-dotted with pink.

He sighed and rose.

"_How the hell did they get out? I had them trapped, reinforced the cells. Cleared the area of infected, this place was meant to be Z-Proof."_

He looked at his bloodstained gun.

"_Unless..."_

He switched his mic back on.

"Rock? Tal? Anyone?"

"What?"

"Still pissed about the panties comment I see?"

"I'll say it again. What?"

"How far are you from the chopper."

"It's a ways away, and there's a crap load of those jumpy-things on the field..."

"Hang on"

He spoke to Anna again.

"Acknowledge active comm signals as friendly. Activate turret systems."

She gave a sound, and then the gunfire started.

"What the hell did you do?"

"Activated the turrets."

"You couldn't have done that before we got attacked by that massive-"

"I was busy saving your life, again, and subsequently getting you lot ready. I really didn't have time."

There was a grumble.

"Damn you're irritable."

"YOU CONSTANTLY PISS ME OFF"

He had to yank the comm out halfway through that one.

"I only make lewd comments. Stop being such a prude."

"Asshole."

"So you admit that you like taking it there."

He literally heard her get ready to yell at him, then stop.

"Fine, if you want it that way."

He raised his eyebrows.

"You surprised me with that one. You're good."

"Better in bed."

"Prefer the shower myself."

"Really? Ever tried it in the garden?"

"Yes, actually. Got mud everywhere, wasn't pleasant."

"Huh, I'd have done it on the garden chair rather than the ground."

"The chair would've broken with the amount of force we were-"

There was a low growl behind him.

"Shit, we'll continue this later."

"Gladly."

He grinned and cut off again.

She was getting used to it.

Damn.

0o0o0o0o0o

They waited until the turrets stopped firing. (Tal recognised them as M40's with a couple of sensory attachments) Then moved, sprinting toward the bare outline of a helicopter.

"Better in bed?"

"Tried it in the Garden?"

"If i didn't know better I'd think-"

"Shut it you three. It's payback, and he seems to enjoy it when I get angry over it."

"He sounded like he was enjoying the dirty-talk too."

That had been true.

"It was worth a shot."

"We'll continue this later."

"_Gladly."_

"You said 'gladly'."

"I think he'll expect another round of your infatuated tales of what you want to do to-"

"Sis you finish that sentence and I'll kick your ass so hard-"

As they reached the entrance to the field, floodlights activated and they were blinded.

As their vision cleared, they recognised piles of zombie corpses.

Then a voice came from the helicopter, amplified by the radio.

"At last, Phoenix, I can repay you for your attack on my men in Washington. We meet, at last, man to man. It is here, you will die."

Suddenly, the rooftop was lined up with soldiers in what looked like a white version of the old American Army gear.

"You will die here."

0o0o0o0o0o

Phoenix grew angrier the more he ran through the corridors he once owned.

Bloodstained walls greeted him, doors smashed in, the cells containing his projects opened and the creatures he'd been researching released.

He'd managed to recover everything from the mainframe, Anna had done an excellent job in his absence. Making sure the undead didn't break out, running tests on the data he'd collected...

Whoever had hacked his system and shut-down her response protocols would die, horribly and messily.

His armouries were open, guns and ammo stolen. His labs trashed and samples destroyed. One had even been incinerated.

So when he heard the foreign voice over the school radio, he was on full tilt toward the gym, a tiny voice in the back of his mind screaming for him to use the sword.

0o0o0o0o0o

A scarred man stood in the middle of the soldiers on the rooftop, glaring at them with vicious eyes.

Vicious, _red_ eyes.

"You aren't the boy. Who are you? How did you enter? His defences kept us out for weeks, and you just stroll in? HOW!"

Tal was already inn front, acting the part of the father he'd since grown accustomed to.

"Who the hell are you! This is Phoenix's place! Get out!"

"I am General Bayonet, boy. And you... you are a soldier, I can see it in your stance. An old Vet out to play? Why are you not with us, your brothers in arms, the remnants of the American Military?"

They didn't really have a clue who this guy was, but seeing other survivors drove Phoenix's point home about the places they'd been to Little Rock, and how they'd left so little to others.

"I stopped fighting when it became less about the freedom and more about the oil. I'm not fighting against people just to take what little they have from them."

The 'General' tutted, but continued.

"Such is your choice. But what of the others? The woman, wimpy-looking one and child? Who are you, and where is Phoenix?"

Little Rock was a little pissed that he referred to her as a child, as she was nearly fifteen. She wasn't sure what Phoenix had done to these guys, but she was fairly sure she didn't want them to find him.

"Phoenix isn't here. He left."

"Oh please, girl. The second he found out about what we did to his research is the second he started fighting. We heard something crashing through a wall from here, one of his little pets, no doubt.

The flash of Phoenix flying out the window and her subsequent facial expression betrayed what she knew.

"I can see it on your face child. He's here. But he left you, didn't he? Awww, he always did have a soft spot for girls. I suppose I can see why, teenager and all..."

She scowled at him, but he only grinned.

"Well, at least he's on site. Commander, if you will..."

The soldier to his direct right raised a pistol with one arm and his other hand to the sky.

Immediately, all the soldiers weapons were pointed at them, with no cover but a helicopter that was at least another 20ft away.

"Nothing personal, but Phoenix is too much of a liability. We can't run the risk that he's trying to slip out some of his research data with you. That would be problematic, if the common rabble learnt of the creation of the virus, and that cure he's trying for. It's sad, really. He has the gifts of the greatest fighter I've ever seen, and he does nothing with them. Such a waste, such a shame..."

The four grimaced. They were dead, they knew it.

"Fire."

The soldiers immediately pulled their triggers.

Nothing happened.

Not even the clack of an empty clip.

"I should've known it was you, Bay."

The general whirled to face the voice that was on the higher roof tier above him, faced with the sunglasses and fluttering cloth, ankle length trench coat that flapped in the wind of the night.

"Phoenix. What an... _unpleasant_ surprise."

"It shouldn't be that surprising, I do live here."

"Not any more. It's ours now."

Phoenix glanced over the court, the corpses bringing themselves into view.

"My Sentinals."

"So that's what you call them. I'll give you a 10 for surprise on this one. I never expected you to actually use Zombies as guards. It's unprecedented, even for _you_."

The 'you' was spat with such contempt that Rock shivered.

_'How do these two know each other?'_

"Predictability is a weakness. Unpredictability is, and always has been, my greatest weapon. Just as you didn't predict that I'd removed the firing pins from my weapons. You are unarmed, give up. I promise the tests I'll run on your corpse won't be too degrading."

The tone was cold, icier than the Arctic. Cold, unabashed and calculating fury.

This battle of words was like a fight between predators, Phoenix was circling his foe. Cold, calculating,

Unpredictable.

"Incorrect. We found a little private room in your lower levels, _boy_. The weaponry you kept there was... intriguing. Why so many swords?"

The soldiers drew their respective blades, getting into obviously amateurish and unpractised stances.

Rock saw him visibly bristle.

"You disgrace the ancient art just by touching those blades, human."

His voice was different.

Darker.

Even the general seemed to notice it.

"Human? How dare you, you disgusting little half-breed. You were nothing more than the trash from the original experiment, a thorn in my side and a mistake that England should've corrected. We are trying to unify the planet-"

"Against the will of it's people. The Remnants are nothing more than dictatorships with the sole purpose of reforming into a unified government and re-triggering Z-day, your fucked-up attempt at the theorised Human Instrumentality Project. I lost enough friends to the initial wave, I will not allow you to render us into zombies that you can enslave."

"What would be the point, boy? They know what you are. They know you're something else. You'll never be accepted by their societies. Your place is with your brethren, the lords and masters of the future race..."

"My place is to stop the reformation of anything that threatens the way of life we now life. The simplicity of the Apocalypse is exactly what was needed to reinvigorate those of us who had no purpose. In this world, everyone is important, everyone has a place. Everyone is equal. No ruling body, no upper class. I will break anything that attempts to stop this. We finally have a common goal, rather than the pointless political bickering that nearly destroyed any hope of the end of the Hedgehog Psychosis we'd pushed ourselves into. You are a threat, General. As _were_ your colleagues. Rest assured, they were dealt with."

The general seemed to recoil.

"The reports from England, the radio silence from Germany, the constant distress signals emitting from India, Russia and Japan, it was..."

"My Cell. My Team. I came here alone to put a final end to this, while the others salvaged what they could. But we have talked too much, and my blood boils so much at your callous use of the Sword. Come, humans. Attempt to engage your superior. I will laugh as I paint the rooftop with your blood, smile as I carve out your eyes and crush them beneath my boot. Come, dual me. Fight me. FEED ME."

He dived off his perch, his sword unsheathing on his way down, the midnight black blade emerged from the phoenix-adorned sheathe, the red runes along the blade the colour of fresh, flowing blood.

It was a massacre.

He laughed as he cut them down with such speed and precision that spirals of blood filled the air.

"THIS ISN'T A SWORD FIGHT!"

Sliced one across his eyes, and he screamed as he went down. Kicked one so hard in his knee that it shattered, he fell forward into the gap between phoenix's arm and side. He caught him, and snapped his neck.

"THIS IS A MASSACRE! IT SHOULD BE A SONG! YOUR FEET THE BEAT OF THE DRUM! THE CLASH OF YOUR BLADES THE KEY OF THE PIANO!"

Decapitated another as he attempted a sloppy overhead strike. Sliced another's leg off. Blocked a blow just to shove his sword through the attackers gut, before yanking it and and spinning on the spot to slice open another's throat.

"YOUR BATTLE-CRY SHOULD BE THE VOCALS! THIS IS NOT A SONG! THIS IS NOT THE FIGHT I NEED!"

Only one left, the general.

"Wha-What the fuck are you! Stay away from me! STAY AWAY!"

"Me? I'm an experiment. I'm the man that he keeps sealed in his head unless he needs me. I'm him, and he's me, but i'm so much darker, so much worse... that said, he has this... _streak_. Let me tell you, if you ever sufficiently piss him of enough, he will break you, scatter everything that is related to you amongst the nine circles and let the Devil decide. I'm a shadow of his darkness. I'm part of the thing that they hate so much."

Pseudo-Phoenix laughed.

"He hasn't released me since eight months ago in Japan. I have so missed the rush of the fight. Tell me, general, why did they try so hard to break him? Her death created the very thing they feared. He's not human, anymore. He's desperately trying to cut that away. Forcing everyone away, deliberately desensitizing himself..."

The general was leaning backwards over the edge now, the blood-soaked blade of the sword on his Adam's apple, drawing yet more blood.

"It's sad. He once believed that others made him stronger, part of him still does. But he's so afraid of what he is, that he won't let himself get close to anyone. So sad, but I agree with him. What happens when his inner darkness takes over? What happens when he and I become one. He can barely keep his bloodthirst in check now, what then? Should he open himself again? No, too much chance of more pain, to much chance of it finally killing what's left of him. So sad, he's the epitome of the Hedgehog Psychosis that he's trying so hard to stop. So, so sad..."

His sunglasses fell, and his red eyes blazed beyond that of his first encounter with Little Rock.

He looked at her with those eyes.

"Do you understand now, girl? He deliberately pushes everything away not because he hates it, but to protect it from what he knows he's becoming. The glorious Scarlet Warrior, caked in the blood of anything that comes near him..."

He grinned savagely

"It'll be glorious. His cell were stupid to let him go alone. They were the only ones keeping him in check. Now he's broken, battered. The insanity he uses to survive is the darkening cloud that will kill him. The irony."

His grin faded.

"I've said too much, but he won't release me for a while again, so it was worth it. But now, general, you know the face of the boy that slaughtered your colleagues. Goodbye, it was pleasant to spill your blood."

He kicked him off the rooftop.

The general's skull shattered like a water melon, and blood was flung everywhere.

Phoenix sheathed his sword as he put on his sunglasses, still looking at little rock.

As it clicked into place, Phoenix fell to his knees, coughed up a massive amount of blood, lay down...

and was still.

**A/N: I started writing and couldn't stop. What is this? 11 pages long. Shit, I think that's the longest chapter I've ever written.**

**As you can see, Phoenix is mentally fucked, completely and totally, for reasons I only hinted at. You'll found out more later.**

**But how will Little Rock react to this new knowledge, and regardless of that, what about Tallahassee's, as the pseudo-father of the groups need to protect his charges, from what looks like a raving psychopath? Wichita's opinion on how Little Rock's 'crush' could get her killed by something that is slowly destroying Phoenix's mind? Or Columbus's need to protect his Girlfriend?**

**And, who the fuck are the Remnants? Or Phoenix's cell?**

**Are they ever going to get to that god-damn Colony?**

**Maybe you'll find out next time.**

**But probably not. I need a few plot points to keep this thing running. It's no fun if i let you know everything already.**

**Ja Ne.**

**Phoenix Sealer.**

**PS: I'm fairly sure this is also the longest A/N I've ever done as well...**


	6. Censorship rage and New Chapter Coming!

**I know, I know, I haven't updated in what seems like years. (Or maybe it has been a year. My sense of time has been fucked since the beginning of my A-Levels.) But I AM working on the next chapter. I think. It's in here somewhere...  
Anyway, I'm sure that a large number of you are aware of the recent abrupt and uncontrolled story-deletions that are plaguing the site, and i'm also sure you want something done about it. I got this of a Lemon-Story writer I've been following for some time (Mikie-From-Ireland), who got it off someone else. (Fenrir the Vicious)  
I've singed it, and I hope you'll post this and do the same. I'm not the type to stand by and watch this happen, especially when great stories people have spent years of their lives working on are indiscriminately deleted. It's pointless, degrading, and crushes the collective will to write. Were I an American,I'd be yelling whatever amendment gives people the right to write what they like. This mass desecration of story-telling and creativity needs to end, and it needs to end now, or risks losing the writers that made it great, the readers that helped those writers become the best at what they do, and everyone in between.  
I'm trying to stop this, as are many others.  
Help us, please.**

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be loosing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

Psudocode_Samurai

Rocketman1728

dracohalo117

VFSNAKE

Agato the Venom Host

Jay Frost

SamCrow

Blood Brandy

Dusk666

Hisea Ori

The Dark Graven

BlackRevenant

Lord Orion Salazar Black

Sakusha Saelbu

Horocrux

socras01

Kumo no Makoto

Biskoff

Korraganitar the NightShadow

NightInk

Lazruth

ragnrock kyuubi

SpiritWriterXXX

Ace6151

FleeingReality

Harufu

Exiled crow

Slifer1988

Dee Laynter

Angeldoctor

Final Black Getsuga

ZamielRaizunto

Fenris187

blood enraged

arashiXnoXkami

Masane Amaha's King

Blueexorist

Nero Angelo Sparda

Sharkteeth

DAPC

Kyuubi16

bunji the wolf

EternalKnight219

Wolvenstrom

fenrir the vicious

Mikie-From-Ireland

Phoenix Sealer


End file.
